FDA announces trans fats to be phased out of American food supply
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) took a major step this week toward eliminating a major health risk present in the American diet. The FDA announced that artificial fats that are present in many processed foods and fast foods, will be phased out of the U.S. Food supply over the next three years.
The three year phase out allows food manufacturers to find alternative ingredients to replace trans fats and reformulate their products to be in compliance with the new FDA regulation, which is expected to be essentially a zero-tolerance policy against the artificial substance.
“I suspect the FDA will allow only truly minor uses, like in sprinkles on cupcakes,” said Michael …show more content…
It gained favor with food manufacturers because it made their products lighter, fluffier, more flavorful, and at a lower cost. The American government even changed its dietary recommendations concerning trans fats, believing at one point that trans fats were more healthful than natural saturated fats; but they got it all wrong.
“In the 1950s and ‘60s, we mistakenly told Americans that butter and eggs were bad for them and pushed people to margarine, which is basically trans fat. What we’ve learned now, is that saturated fat is relatively neutral - it is the trans fat that is really harmful and we made the dietary situation worse,” said Dr. Steven Nissen, the chair of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, in an interview with CNN.
Trans fats are a real dietary double-whammy. According to the Mayo Clinic, trans fats raise LDL cholesterol (“bad” cholesterol), and lower HDL cholesterol (“good” cholesterol). When that “bad” cholesterol is consumed, it travels through the bloodstream, and builds up in the arteries, hardening and narrowing them, and potentially leading to heart disease, the number one killer of men and women in
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) took a major step this week toward eliminating a major health risk present in the American diet. The FDA announced that artificial fats that are present in many processed foods and fast foods, will be phased out of the U.S. Food supply over the next three years.
The three year phase out allows food manufacturers to find alternative ingredients to replace trans fats and reformulate their products to be in compliance with the new FDA regulation, which is expected to be essentially a zero-tolerance policy against the artificial substance.
“I suspect the FDA will allow only truly minor uses, like in sprinkles on cupcakes,” said Michael …show more content…
It gained favor with food manufacturers because it made their products lighter, fluffier, more flavorful, and at a lower cost. The American government even changed its dietary recommendations concerning trans fats, believing at one point that trans fats were more healthful than natural saturated fats; but they got it all wrong.
“In the 1950s and ‘60s, we mistakenly told Americans that butter and eggs were bad for them and pushed people to margarine, which is basically trans fat. What we’ve learned now, is that saturated fat is relatively neutral - it is the trans fat that is really harmful and we made the dietary situation worse,” said Dr. Steven Nissen, the chair of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, in an interview with CNN.
Trans fats are a real dietary double-whammy. According to the Mayo Clinic, trans fats raise LDL cholesterol (“bad” cholesterol), and lower HDL cholesterol (“good” cholesterol). When that “bad” cholesterol is consumed, it travels through the bloodstream, and builds up in the arteries, hardening and narrowing them, and potentially leading to heart disease, the number one killer of men and women in